GLOBE EDITORIAL
A big stage for Romney
September 2, 2004
GOVERNOR Mitt Romney skewered John Kerry before an appreciative audience at the Republican National Convention last night, depicting the Democratic presidential nominee as a tax-hiking, flip-flopping member of the "Blame America First" crowd. It was a tough attack for the well-mannered Romney, unbecoming a man who usually prefers the government-reforming high road over ideological battles. "Study the record, and if you want someone who voted for tax hikes 98 times, send in John Kerry," Romney said. "If you think that during the great national policy debate of the 1980s Ronald Reagan was wrong and Ted Kennedy was right, by all means send in John Kerry."
Romney may disdain Massachusetts liberalism, but it is precisely because he is from Kerry's state that he is in such demand among the national Republicans. He began the week in New Hampshire campaigning beside President Bush. He has attended numerous luncheons and was feted aboard the USS Intrepid. Last night he was the final speaker before the evening's stars: Georgia's Senator Zell Miller and Vice President Dick Cheney. His best laugh line -- "this nation can't afford presidential leadership that comes in 57 varieties" -- will doubtless be remembered fondly by the party faithful.
After its acid beginning, Romney's speech mellowed into a tribute to America's fighting men and women, traditional Republican values such as fiscal conservativism, and the spirit of courage and dedication he saw at the US Olympics. He trod a fine line on gay marriage, stating bluntly that marriage should be reserved for heterosexuals but only because every child deserves a mother and father. He packed a fair amount of substance into a few minutes.
It is hard to avoid the impression that, like so many Massachusetts politicians before him, Romney has been bitten by the bug of national ambition. He joins Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas and, yes, Ted Kennedy in hearing the siren song of the White House. How else to explain his address to the Iowa delegation Tuesday, in which he credited the economic policies of the Bush administration for turning the Massachuetts budget from a $3 billion deficit to a $700 million surplus? Anyone within 100 miles of Beacon Hill knows that the budget was balanced with billions in program cuts and fee increases. Only recently has economic activity stimulated revenues.
But the Iowa delegation talk was only a warm-up: Romney has been invited to campaign for the Bush-Cheney ticket there next month. It is not lost on anyone that Iowa is the home of the first presidential caucuses. To many in Massachusetts, Romney's ambition has been clear from the start. But for the national audience, Romney's address last night was the first speech of the rest of his life. |
